Suited connectors in SNGs

Every reasonable poker player knows that suited connectors are excellent implied odds hands and are therefore playable every time in deep-stacked cash games (or even tournament situations). Small pocket pairs are hands which carry similarly good implied odds. This is why set mining is common practice at the cash tables. Suited connectors can be mined in a similar fashion, provided that you’re deep stacked, and preferably: you’re playing at a cash table.

How do you play your suited connectors in a SNG though? Do they carry the same value as in cash games? Unfortunately not… This is just one of the reasons why cash game and tournament strategy are so radically different sometimes. Let’s go over the implied odds theory again: what do you need to make the most of your implied odds?

First of all, you need a large stack which can swallow the variation that these set mining techniques will inevitably bring upon you. You’ll lose money before you make money and that’s just the way things are. You are aware every time you take your pocket pairs or suited connectors to the flop that in the short-run, you’re actually undertaking a negative EV venture. Your set, flush or straight will miss you the vast majority of the cases. If you’re playing on a finite and short stack, chances are it may not be capable of swallowing the variation you encounter that way.

The other variable which indicates how successful you are at exploiting your implied odds is the amount of money that you win on the hands that you do hit. Whenever you hit your hand, your goal should be to get as much money into the pot as possible. That’s the only way to maximize your winnings, and it requires – you’ve guessed it - a massive stack. After all, your stack size largely determines the amount of money you’re able to get into the pot. Now then, despite the fact that this implied odds theory works so well for successful set-miners, you should know that the margins are not so big. If you fail to squeeze the absolute maximum out of your made hands, chances are the implied odds will fail to come through for you.

The situation that typical SNGs put you into will attack both sides of the equation which describes implied odds profitability: you’ll lose much more money (compared to your stack-size) on each of the hands that miss you, and you’ll win less on each of the hands that you make. What all that boils down to is that good implied odds hands lose a lot of value in tournaments, when compared to deep-stacked cash games.

Many people who make the jump from the cash to the tournament tables fail to compensate enough for the hurdles posed by the finite stacks and the escalating blinds. Does that mean you shouldn’t play your suited connectors at all in SNGs? Not quite…
It means that you should always keep an eye on the blinds. When the blinds are small compared to your stack size, your suited connectors do retain some value (though they’re definitely weaker than at a cash table). Under such circumstances, you still have a few options open: if you’re in late position (like the cut-off or the button) and you get a bunch of limpers in the hand, sure, go ahead and limp along. If you’re hit by the flop for a draw which offers you good odds, you should take that chance too. Don’t maneuver your suited connectors around from early position though, that’s not profitable.

As the blinds grow bigger compared to your stack, and you reach the middle stages of the tourney, forget about your suited connectors for a while. Limping along to try to hit hands on them becomes way too expensive and trying to steal blinds on them will carry too many risks. Put your suited connectors on a hold here.

When the blinds progress to even higher levels, limping will lose all profitability, on the other hand though, you’ll gain a blinds-stealing value in your suited connectors.

As a tournament player you should also recognize the importance of rakeback. Poker rakeback is not just for cash game rake: it offers rebate on your tournament fees as well. The Full Tilt rakeback for instance offers you a 27% rebate and the Absolute poker rakeback and Ultimate Bet rakeback give you 30%. That there is an edge you should never ignore.